5 tips for safer free-range backyard chickens and ducks (2024)

Taking these simple steps to keep your chickens safe while free-range can yield successful results.

The sad fact is that free-range chickens and ducks always come with risks and will probably end badly in the end (more than likely).a lot ofbad) if you raise them long enough.

As an old farmer once told me: it just has to be donesubjectonce... and all the predator has to do is do thatto winonce. The odds are certainly stacked against the chickens and ducks.

Benefits of Free Range for Backyard Chickens and Ducks

But chickens (and ducks)Soenjoy wandering freely through the garden, looking for insects and worms, sunbathing and stretching their legs for each other and butterflies.

And we enjoy watching it.

Pretty much every chicken owner's dream is to sit outside with their happy, healthy flock of chickens wandering around the garden or pasture. And it is healthier for them not to sit in a small space, that is, to run 24/7, but instead to stand on fresh grass.

From an economic point of view, free range also makes perfect sense. The more your flock is able to supplement its diet with grass and weeds, herbs, seeds, earthworms and insectsthe more you save on your feed bill.

Free-range chickens are also healthier for your family. Purely from a nutritional point of view, they lay eggswill contain more vitamins and nutrients.

But free range can come at a cost.

Dangers of free-range chickens and ducks in the backyard

Predators can be different from foxescoyotes, bobcats, raccoons, weasels, fishing cats and mink to hawks, owls and eagles. Even your neighbor's dog can pose a threat to your chickens.

And the dangers don't just come from predators. Your soil or grass may contain pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals, or even things like nails, screws, washers, or other pieces of dangerous metal that can lead tohardware disease

In addition, there are plentyplants that can be poisonous to chickens.

But in addition to these very real dangers of letting your chickens roam free, there are plenty of other pitfalls, including:

• piles of feces everywhere
• greenery destroyed
• ate flowers
• vegetable gardens decimated
• mulch spread over the lawn
• large craters in your garden
• hidden eggs laid by sneaky brothers
• and possibly even far-away chickens getting hit by cars, harassed by the neighbor's dogs, or even making themselves at home on the neighbor's porch (and gasping!

But letting your chickens roam is good for themIngood for you.

There is nothing more relaxing than watching a flock of beautiful chickens wandering around, living in the moment and enjoying their freedom.

So what to do?

5 tips for safer free-range backyard chickens and ducks

Despite all the possible pitfalls, I like to see my chickens running free. They enjoy scratching for worms, chasing insects, taking dust baths and nibbling on all the different things they find in the garden.

I hate to curse myself, but I haven't lost chicks to predators in years. (Not Sincea terrible fox attack(Ironically, early in our flight, a few foxes dug under our shed.)

The key word, however, is 'see'. I don't just open the door, let my chickens out and go about my day. I'm pretty sure I'd lose them in a heartbeat.

Instead, I learned some things that help deter predators and make free-roaming safer. Not 100% sure. Free running is never without risk.

But you can limit this risk by using these simple tips. Over the years I have been quite nervous about freewheeling and have often erred on the side of caution.

We use trail cams to try to get a jump on anything that comes close. It is useful to know this in advancewhat can control your chickens.

At night I usesolar predator lightto keep predators out of our chicken coop and running away, but they don't work during the day. So I spray Predator Pee,especially wolf urineon the trees around our site.

Wolves are an apex predator, so their scent should keep other predators at bay. It is also useful to let your dog (or children/men!) pee in the garden. I'm told that little boys especially like it a lot!

In short, I've listened to all of you who have suffered losses - and paid attention to when and where those losses occurred - and I've learned from the mistakes of others.

But it paid off. In almost a decade, I haven't lost a single chicken or duck to a predator (knock on wood), but it's actually more than just "luck."

It is the result of taking a few simple steps that I believe will help reduce the risks to my chickens.

1. Monitor, monitor, monitor

Of course, one of the easiest things you can do is stay outside with your chickens and watch them as they roam freely.

Having a dog outside is also a great advantage.

Not only is even a dog's scent a great deterrent to predators, dogs' senses are so much more attuned to potential threats than ours, and even our corgi can chase a fox at the tree line before I probably even realized that he was there.

Raising other livestock on your property can also help deter predators. Specifically, donkeys or llamas are good at guarding chickens. The presence of a herd of larger animals such as goats or horses can help deter aerial predators, as can several geese.

Besides, the only way I would feel comfortable letting our chickens run free all day without being outside with them would be if we had aLGD (herding dog) or other animalwhose specific purpose was to watch the chickens. Maybe ever...

I admit that sometimes I let our dogs take a break and go back inside as long as I know they are outside with the chickens, but I actually really enjoy that part of the day and look forward to it.

I save outdoor chores for the afternoons when I walk the chickens: cleaning the yard, painting or repairing the yard or running, washing the car, gardening, pruning shrubs, picking flowers, etc.

But if you can't be outside with your chickens while they roam free, or if you're willing to take a little more risk and leave them outside, there are still a few simple things you can do to try to reduce the nuisance. Reduce. chance of a successful predator attack.

That brings me to my second tip.

It makes sense to limit free range to the afternoon.

Aerial predators such as hawks, eagles and the like start hunting every morning and will hunt until they find their food for the day, then return to where they are hanging out.

After years of keeping chickens and paying attention, I noticed that we rarely see hawks circling in the afternoon. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it doesn't happen that often.

That's why I usually don't let my chickens outside until after 2 p.m., and sometimes later in the summer when it first gets dark at 9 p.m. or later.

The other advantage of free range in the afternoon is that the chickens don't wander as far from the yard later in the day and of course go to bed around dusk.

3. Don't stick to a strict routine

Believe it or not, there are predators watching and listening all the time.

I've heard people say they've gone into the house to answer the phone, get a glass of water, or go to the bathroom, and in that split second a fox or other predator has attacked.

For that reason, I try to change my routine and not walk my chickens every day, don't let them out at the same time every day, and even let them go to a different part of our yard some days.

I also move things around the yard - rakes, shovels, plants, chairs, benches, etc. - to keep things looking different every day. These things also give the hens something to hide under if necessary.

Hanging laundry on an outdoor line can keep predators on their toes. Clothing that flutters and moves is a big deterrent. Andmake a scarecrowcan also help.

The one thing you don't want to be is predictable. Make sure any predators try to figure out your routine guesses.

4. Take the season into account

I tend to limit free range during the fall and spring. At these times of year the predators are quite desperate.

In the fall, food sources become scarce heading into winter. In the spring, all babies need to be fed... and later trained for hunting. In spring and autumn, birds of prey also migrate and are more mobile.

So there is much more predator activity in spring and autumn. And I tend to keep my chickens safe during their flight more often than not.

It actually works quite well because in the spring I want to protect our small seedlings, flowers and garden plants from the chickens, so I would keep the chickens more often than anything else.

However, in the summer I let my chickens roam free almost every afternoon. I love the excuse to take a break from work and sit outside with them.

There are many insects, worms, seeds and grasses that they can eat, as well as herbs from the garden and edible flowers.

5. Don't trust a rooster 100%, but pay attention to him (and the ducks)

Too often I hear someone tell me that they feel comfortable being free because theyhave a rooster in their flockBut time and time again, the rooster becomes the sacrificial lamb when a predator attacks.

No rooster is a match for a predator such as a dog, fox, coyote, fishing cat or even a hawk. But a rooster provides a valuable warning - if you pay attention. And it's smart to listen to the wild birds and squirrels. If they suddenly go quiet – or start to go crazy – you know something is wrong.

And watch your ducks. They scan the sky almost constantly when they are free.
Poultry has a unique visionbecause their eyes are on the sides of their heads, so they can keep one eye on the ground looking for insects and one eye on the sky.

Just before a chick or duckling hatches, it enters the "hatch position," which means it turns in the shell so that the right eye is next to the shell and their body, or more accurately wing, covers the left eye.

When they first hatch, their right eye develops nearsightedness, which they use to search for food, while the left eye develops farsightedness.So their right eye is focused on close-up work, such as finding insects and seeds, while theirsthe left eye is turned inward for distance. This allows them to do thatwhile at the same time scanning the sky with their left eye for predators.

Therefore, when a hawk or eagle flies overhead, a chicken or duck will tilt its head towards the sky with its left eye.

Safe free range

A little story to illustrate my points:

Recently we were all enjoying a sunny afternoon when suddenly all our ducks were frozen, with one eye on the sky.

Our little rooster Sherman immediately let out a piercing alarm call and herded all 15 chickens under the stairs to our deck.

Looking up, I saw a fearsome red-tailed hawk circling.

I ran to Sherman and threw him and the chickens under the stairs, certain that he would keep them there until the danger had passed.

Then I went over and stood with the ducks still sitting in the middle of the lawn like marble statues (have you ever heard the saying "sitting duck"?).

Ducks know they can't try to outrun a predator, so they stay completely still - also knowing that many predators hunt by looking for movement - so they think that if they don't move, the predator can't see them.

Winston, our corgi, jumped up from where he was dozing under the picnic table and started barking at the sky.

As soon as the hawk moved on, Sherman released everything, the ducks "froze" and went back to their work, and Winston went back to bed.

It was a classic example of a multiple defense system for predators. This time.

As I mentioned earlier, free-range chickens always pose a risk to your flock, but taking these simple steps to keep your chickens safe while free-range can yield much more successful results.

Free-range chickens and ducks